Haryana’s Kamboj celebrates after taking the wicket of Mumbai captain Rahane.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Mumbai made a roaring comeback after Haryana flattened its top order in a roller-coaster day one of the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals here at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.
Haryana reduced Mumbai to 113 for seven inside 30 overs before Shams Mulani and Tanush Kotian made use of better batting conditions to stitch a 165-run stand to restore parity.
Despite the situation, both batters played their shots. Kotian placed a backfoot punch towards square to get his first boundary while Mulani checked an upper cut early into his innings.
Flat conditions nullified Jayant Yadav and Nishant Sindhu’s spin threat and the pacers were forced to put more effort on the ball.
After batting nearly two sessions, Mulani got a leading edge straight back to Jayant five minutes before stumps, missing his century by nine runs. Mumbai finished at 278 for eight.
Earlier, a 9 a.m. start gave the Haryana pacers a home-like feel with seam movement on offer as Anshul Kamboj uprooted Ayush Mhatre’s middle stump off the first ball after Ajinkya Rahane opted to bat. Twenty-six minutes later, Sumit Kumar’s inswinger crashed into the off stump of Akash Anand, who shouldered arms being set up by the outswingers. Kamboj then cleaned up Siddhesh Lad and Sumit cut short Suryakumar Yadav’s stay at the crease with a nip-backer, disturbing the stumps for the fourth time in the morning.
With Mumbai 25 for four, Shivam Dube showed attacking intent in his 32-ball stay, hitting four fours and a six to score 28. However, he walked back dejectedly after Ajit Chahal induced an edge straight to the second slip placed wide.
Rahane played with soft hands, showcasing some good-looking strokes down the ground before getting a faint edge off Kamboj. Shardul Thakur’s dismissal early in the second session brought Mulani and Kotian together, who then pulled the defending champion out of the rubble.
The scores:
Mumbai — 1st innings: Ayush Mhatre b Kamboj 0, Akash Anand b Sumit 10, Siddhesh Lad b Kamboj 4, Ajinkya Rahane c Rohit b Kamboj 31, Suryakumar Yadav b Sumit 9, Shivam Dube c Yashvardhan b Chahal 28, Shams Mulani c & b Jayant 91, Shardul Thakur c & b Thakral 15, Tanush Kotian (batting) 85, Mohit Avasthi (batting) 0; Extras (lb-1, nb-2, w-2): 5; Total (for eight wkts. in 81 overs): 278.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-14, 3-14, 4-25, 5-65, 6-94, 7-113, 8-278.
Haryana bowling: Kamboj 18-3-58-3, Sumit 13-1-57-2, Thakral 18-1-59-1, Chahal 5-1-21-1, Jayant 11-2-32-1, Sindhu 16-1-50-0.
Published – February 08, 2025 05:42 pm IST